High Tide Aquatics

Scarbird's Dream 250

Maybe I can make a "sandbox" rock. Sort of like a swimming pool of sand within the tank. The level of the sand within the "swimming pool" can be low enough to prevent the flow from blowing it around. I'm just brain storming here. I mean, if people can put a container, why not an aquaculture rock. Anyone know who makes these rocks?
Is it Jester, or does he buy them somewhere? Can I request a specific shape?
 
Scarbird said:
Thanks Jim! It took me quite some time to get through it, but it was worth the time. I am currently working on Kris's thread as well. So many threads!
About the wp 40's, how will I hide the power cords? I have told myself there will be no visible stuff except reef.
Which skimmer do you have on your main tank?
About the fuge, I was thinking of containers for the mud under the sand to make it easier to swap out. Any specific brand you have confidence in?
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I have my power heads hidden behind the rock work. The power cords are only seen at the upper part of the tank. You can always have a dry box made to hide cords also. I run a H&S A250 skimmer on my main display. I used various sizes of Tropic Eden sand for my main display. Depending how you situate your rock work you may need only a bag or two for your wrasses (great example was Steve Weast tank www.oregonreef.com).
 
My Apprentice helped me cut out the wall and rough in the framing today. Nice kid.
 

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There is an out let we disconnected from the front side which we intend to use on the back side. Do you think I will pull more than 20 amps total? Your experience is appreciated in this matter. I have never run a large tank before.
 
There is an out let we disconnected from the front side which we intend to use on the back side. Do you think I will pull more than 20 amps total? Your experience is appreciated in this matter. I have never run a large tank before.
 
20A? You have a 20A circuit? They can really only handle 0.8 of that, IIRC.

My 120g draws less than 7A. LED lighting and not very big return. You might be close to double mine.

Perfect time to put in an extra circuit, don't ya know. :)
 
Scarbird said:
There is an out let we disconnected from the front side which we intend to use on the back side. Do you think I will pull more than 20 amps total? Your experience is appreciated in this matter. I have never run a large tank before.
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I had a buddy help install four 20 amp circuits for my 450. I had two 20 amp circuit installed in the 250 install I'm doing now for a comparison.
 
I do have spare slots in my breaker panel nearby. I can add the circuits when I go under the house to run pipes for my semi auto water change system.
 
need to add up your power usage. For a 20amp circuit I'd probably put the ceiling at about 2000 watts maximum power, since your pumps presumably will be on 24/7 you don't have to worry about how much they'll spike, your lights perhaps if you run MH bulbs.

For me heating the biggest hog of my tanks, due to where my tanks are in San Francisco they tend to run on the cool side, this winter has been bit a colder than usually and me living in San Francisco I get spanked doubly hard because we're not expected to use much electricity (and my solar panels don't make anywhere close to as much in the winter time.
 
I would suggest two 20A circuits for a tank that size.
The main problem is if you have a power outage, then everything goes back on at once.
The pumps and lights (especially some LEDs) can spike to pretty high current.

Also, if you are putting in your own outlets, consider two banks of 4, and make ALL of them GFCI in parallel.
Yeah, normal is to have the first one GFCI, and the rest normal. But if one pops, they all do, which is scary.
Basically two of: 20A circuit => 4 x 20A GFCI double-outlet receptacles.

Reminder that you generally want the breaker, wire, and receptacle to all match at 20A.
 
That's all good info. Thanks to you all. Now for a more pointed question.
Since I will be using a Neptune Apex, which has controlled receptacles, how many of the controlled receptacles should I have installed on one 20 amp circuit? There will be a frag and quarantine tanks in the system. How should I figure these into the system?
Which should I use the apex to control? Why or why not? I have an RKL now with 8 controllable outlets. Should I sell or keep and split responsibility of the tanks between the two controllers.
I recognize there will be many things I do not need to control as well.
Thanks to you all for your input.
 
Hard to form an opinion without an exact list of equipment you have.

As a general opinion, the only item that is controversial is to put heaters on controller or not.
A bonus is you have double redundancy in the OFF direction. Controller + Heater itself.
Since relays usually fail ON, and ON kills the tank, very handy.
But you likely need a separate high powered relay, since the puny ones in most controllers
will give out with a big heater.

If you have two very separate systems, it might make sense to keep both, one for each,
simply to avoid programming and logging confusion.
 
I would definitely have at least two 20 amp circuits. The more, the merrier, especially if you have plans (or not) of expanding in or around the same area.
 
Scarbird said:
Since I will be using a Neptune Apex, which has controlled receptacles, how many of the controlled receptacles should I have installed on one 20 amp circuit? There will be a frag and quarantine tanks in the system. How should I figure these into the system?
Which should I use the apex to control? Why or why not?
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??? The Apex doesn't control the receptacle, it has a power bar that it controls that you plug into a receptacle. Your Apex will control the strip, in fact you can only use it if it's plugged into the apex. Now if you have more than one of those controlled strips I'd plug one into each outlet simply because they have an upper limit of 15amps (unless they changed it) so if you plug 2 into one receptacle you can't max out the two strips because that'll exceed your 20amp limit.

I have an RKL now with 8 controllable outlets. Should I sell or keep and split responsibility of the tanks between the two controllers.
I recognize there will be many things I do not need to control as well.
Thanks to you all for your input.
Click to expand...
What I tell anyone who's thinking about a controller is what do you want out of your controller. Make a list of specific functions, and see which ones are useful, which ones aren't, remember that each outlet on your power bar for whatever controller you get is going to be an expensive plug to take up. Think about remote access, think about controlling various parameters. Some people will buy an Apex and only control their lights with it, which is an expensive light timer!

That said, I'm not sure there is much of a market for older products like the RKL, so you might not get anywhere close to the price you paid back as a used sale. Might want to just use it for certain controlled aspects, maybe even on your main tank as well.
 
Yep, today I got tanked!!!!!!
The tank arrived today. I left work early, picked up the tank which Joe had his buddy with a forklift load into my truck. By the time I reached home, Chris Tran arrived with sump and auxiliary stand. Chris installed the Huuuge sump, and by the time he was finished, Joe and his crack team arrived to help with the big tank. It took a couple hours, but we were veeeeeery careful and things went off without a hitch.
Many thanks to Joe and his staff from Aquatic collection, Christ Tran, my neighbor Will who got side swiped by the ghost, and last but not least my boy Aaron (also the photographer).
Photos are still loading.... more details to come.
Is it considered crazy to sit and contemplate an empty aquarium? Oh well, send the rubber truck!!!

Cheers!
 
Congrats! No, it's completely normal to contemplate an empty aquarium. Some people even get in them or let their kids swim in them during leak tests! ;)

Of course, I must mention, NO PICS - DIDN'T HAPPEN!
No rubber truck but the pic police are on the case. :)
 
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